Theory of Interstellar or Interplanetary Panspermia or Cosmic Seeding

Even though the Theory of Interstellar or Interplanetary Panspermia or Cosmic Seeding has its origin in Greek philosophy and is based on the hypothesis that life on Earth comes from Outer Space, either through contact with extraterrestrial material such as comets or meteorites that they would transport the seeds of life by way of cosmic seeding from the primitive oceans or by intelligently directed seeding by an extraterrestrial civilization. Over the years, he adapted to biology, chemistry and other sciences.

Etymologically the word Paspermia, comes from the Greek, since it is the result of the sum of two components of that language:

• The noun pan (πᾶν =, which can be translated as everything.

• The word sperma (, σπέρμα) that is treduced as a seed.

There are two hypotheses of how Paspermia would be performed:

Natural Panspermia Hypothesis

This hypothesis proposes that living organisms would have arrived in meteorites or comets from space to Earth, after having inhabited other celestial bodies.

Targeted Panspermia Hypothesis

This refers to a hypothetical deliberate transport of microorganisms in space by beings from other worlds or dimensions, to be introduced as alien species on planets without life forms, and refers both to microorganisms supposedly sent to Earth to begin lifei, as the opposite, that is, the transfer of living beings from earth to other planets. Life would be deliberately sent to seed new solar systems with life.

In 1903 the Swedish scientist Nobel laureate in chemistry Svante August Arrhenius popularized the theory of the arrival of life on Earth from the outside. He proposed that the force of radiation from the stars (radiopanspermia) could be the driving force of microscopic spores. Today we know that they did not survive cosmic radiation. Arrhenius is pointed out as the one who took the bases of Panspermia to postulate that terrestrial life could have had its birth beyond the confines of the Earth. He used the word to explain the beginning of life on Earth and was the one who popularized the concept that life had originated in outer space. On his part, the astronomer Fred Hoyle also supported that hypothesis. What panspermia suggests is that these seeds can travel through space and reach different places in the way of sowing that we know in agriculture. The development of these germs only takes place when the context is favorable for their flourishing.

In 1973, the Nobel Prize winner F. Crick and Leslie Orgel proposed the theory of directed or direct panspermia, whereby life appears on Earth by being deliberately seeded by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. Crick and Orgel believed that a molecule as complex as DNA could not be created naturally.

The controversial mathematician and astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, father of the Stationary model of the Universe and scientist renowned for his theoretical prediction of the existence of certain energy levels that carbon atoms should have, and for the explanation of nucleosynthesis from hydrogen and hydrogen. helium from the heaviest atoms such as carbon inside the stars, supported the Paspermia theory together with Nalin Chandra in 1978, they understood that it was from the probabilistic point of view impossible for life to originate on Earth by combination of the elements that compose it.

Stephen Hawking supported Panspermia at a 2009 conference on Origins. "Life could spread from planet to planet or from stellar system to stellar system, carried on meteors."

In 2012 Edward Belbruno and astronomers such as Amaya Moro-Martín and Renu Malhotra proposed the theory of Low Energy Gravitational Transfer.

If this theory is considered as true, we would find ourselves with the affirmation that in these moments the seeds of life would be found traveling throughout space. In this way, what they would be doing would be sowing that life in other specific points of the cosmos.

As an explanation for the emergence of life on our planet, panspermia is usually defended based on the knowledge we have about the survival of certain bacteria. Bacteria have been shown to persist in outer space for extended periods of time, suggesting that the seeds of terrestrial life could have traversed space.

In the same way that there are scientists in favor of panspermia, there are also those against it, those who oppose it, consider that it is not possible, since this theory has flaws in some aspects such as:

• The dates and deadlines that are used on the origin of the Earth or on what is the time that the extraterrestrial microorganisms would take to reach our planet are not compatible, they dislodge the theory.

• The aforementioned microorganisms that they consider to have reached Earth could not have coped with the temperatures or the solar wind, due to the conditions they are considered to have.

The detractors of panspermia emphasize that the biggest drawback of this hypothesis is that it does not solve the initial problem of how life arose (biogenesis), but rather that it limits itself to transferring responsibility for its origin to another place in space. There are also those who assure that no bacteria would be able to survive the collision of a meteorite (which would be the vehicle of the seeds) with our planet.

However, in recent decades there have been studies that suggest the possible existence of bacteria capable of surviving long periods of time even in outer space. Bacteria have also been found in the atmosphere at altitudes of more than 40 km where it is possible, although unlikely, that they have arrived from the lower layers.

Some Streptococcus mitis bacteria in 1967 were accidentally transported to the Moon on the Surveyor 3 spacecraft and could be revived without difficulty upon their return to Earth three years later.

If the organic materials that were part of the rocks that reached Earth were not damaged and life arose from these, is it possible that remains of these components can still be found in meteorites? . Recently a study of meteorites found has been carried out and the results are surprising.

An analysis carried out by NASA of the Martian meteorite ALH84001 found in Antarctica in 1984 by a group of American scientists from the meteorite search program, showed indications of the existence of structures similar to those that produce nano bacteria, structures that could have been caused by microscopic life forms. This is the closest to a hint of extraterrestrial life that has been obtained. On closer examination, amino acids and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were found. Which by chemical processes can be transformed into more complex molecules. This could be an indication that panspermia is possible. Although there is no consensus in the scientific community, some propose that it could be a contamination from Antarctic ice

On the other hand, the Murchison meteorite that gets its name from the town of Murchison, Victoria in Australia, fell into fragments in 1969. The analysis of the meteorite, a type II carbonaceous chondrite (CM2) contained uracil and xanthine, two precursors of the molecules that make up RNA and DNA, and common amino acids like glycine, alanine, and glutamic acid, but also some rare ones like isovaline and pseudoleucine. The initial report established that the amino acids were racemic, supporting the theory that their source was extraterrestrial. A complex mixture of alkanes was also isolated that was similar to that found in the Miller and Urey experiment. Serine and threonine are commonly considered terrestrial contaminants and these compounds were absent in the samples.

In 2005 a study conducted by ISRO was carried out, in which samples were taken at different heights of the atmosphere (between 20 km and 40 km), 12 bacteria and 6 fungi were found, three of the bacteria were new species, showing a high resistance to UV light.

In 2013, Chandra Wickramasinghe reported finding shapes that resemble fossil diatoms in a carbonaceous meteorite called Polonnaruwa that landed in the North Central province of Sri Lanka in 2012.

In short, numerous experiments have been carried out to analyze how bacteria can survive the conditions that can be reached, at the moment of impact where high pressures, accelerations and temperatures are reached. Also in relation to the survival of cosmic rays in transit conditions; as well as the reentry conditions, and in all cases bacteria have been found that survive the experiments.